Using Rubik’s cube to teach math

The concerns about the inability to learn math in a conventional environment have been going rounds for years. A high-school teacher based in Colorado devised a creative instructional method to meet the student’s learning need using –a Rubik’s cube. After learning that students create historical figures and landmarks on Rubik’s cube, he decided to taper Rubik’s Cube efficiency to promote critical thinking and algorithmic problem solving among the kids.

Connecting Rubik’s cube with math

One can make several connections between a Rubik’s cube and Math. Initial learning is that of time and speed. This happens when kids start solving one face of the cube. They are encouraged to calculate the time taken to address one face, and after that, the concept of speed comes in naturally.

Another mathematical concept one can learn from a cube is that of fraction, ratios, and proportional reasoning. The teacher can encourage the student to calculate the fraction of a particular colour against one face. For the older group of students, the Rubik’s cube can introduce the concept of factorials to explain the different combinations of the cube.

Although, what was started as an effort to motivate math learning in kids, Rubik’s cube technique is facilitating efficient learning of other subjects too. The students spend quite some time researching about the information they wish to develop. Thus, the Rubik’s cube learning is found to provide an engaging experience to the students, and the educators can motivate students to seek out challenges.

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